IN THE NEWS

UCLA Newsroom - July 28, 2015UCLA researcher, Dr. Donald Kohn, will lead a clinical trial that will utilize a stem cell gene-therapy to correct a genetic defect associated with an inherited immunodeficiency disorder.

UCLA Newsroom - May 19, 2015A new study led by UCLA associate professor of Psychology, Lara Ray, has found that Naltrexone, a drug used to treat alcoholism, may also be a promising treatment for addiction to methamphetamine.

UCLA Newsroom - May 01, 2015UCLA’s Center for Mental Health has developed a new program that has been adopted by dozens of school districts in Alabama, reducing absences and improving graduation rates.

UCLA Newsroom - April 29, 2015Jeffery F. Miller, Philip Davis Chair in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics and Glen MacDonald, UC Presidential Chair and distinguished professor, Departments of Geography and of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability have been elected members of the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Membership is a widely accepted mark of excellence in science and is considered one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive.

UCLA Newsroom - April 23, 2015Jonathan Drury and Gregory Grether, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology report that male aggression against potential rivals for females explains much of the interspecies fighting in damselflies.

New York Times Sunday Review - March 29, 2015This article cites the perceptual-learning research of UCLA psychologist, Philip Kellman. By tapping into perceptual-learning, people can more quickly extract pertinent information from mountains of computational data.

UCLA Newsroom - March 26, 2015In a new study published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, UCLA psychologists found that almost none of their subjects could draw the logo correctly from memory.

UCLA Newsroom - February 24, 2015A team lead by Ecology and Evolutionary Biology post-doc Katelyn Gostic and associate professor James Lloyd-Smith found that airport screening misses at least half of infected travelers.

Daily News - February 22, 2015UCLA’s Institute for Quantitative and Computational Biosciences is working to answer biology’s “million-dollar question”: How do genes and the environment interact to ensure health or cause disease?

Newswise - February 2, 2015Drs.Hanna Mikkola and James Dunn, of UCLA's Broad Stem Cell Research Center, were among 20 scientists nationwide to receive the Tools and Technologies Award from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine.

Scientific American - January 20, 2015“This work represents a significant advance in the development of biocompatible devices,” says UCLA Life Scientist Reggie Edgerton: In his own work, Edgerton has placed electrodes outside the dura mater and shown they can help paralyzed patients recover limited movement.

UCLA Newsroom - January 7, 2014UCLA’s BRITE Center for Science, Research and Policy has received a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, through the Princeton Area Community Foundation, to convene scholars with expertise in mental/behavior health disorders or treatments for racial and ethnic minorities.

ABC News - November 18, 2014A team led UCLA life scientist, Dr. Donald Kohn, developed the breakthrough that cured 18 children who had adenosine deaminase (ADA)-deficient severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID)

UCLA Newsroom - November 13, 2014A new study by Scientists at UCLA and China’s Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden will improve predictions of which plant species will survive the increasingly intense droughts associated with global climate change.

UCLA Newsroom - October 30, 2014UCLA conservation biologist Brad Shaffer and other scientists have resolved a nearly 80-year-old mystery surrounding a group of frogs in and around New York City known for their distinctively odd croak.

UCLA Newsroom - October 29, 2014UCLA research could lead to a simple saliva test capable of diagnosing — at an early stage — diabetes and cancer, and perhaps neurological disorders and autoimmune diseases.

Health Canal - October 15, 2014Findings, from the lab of Dr. Arjun Deb, suggest the possibility of coaxing scar-forming cells in the heart to change their identity into blood vessel-forming cells, which could potentially be used to improve healing after a heart attack.

UCLA Newsroom - September 11, 2014UCLA evolutionary biologist Thomas Smith and colleagues from seven other universities explain that pests and diseases are evolving too quickly, while people and endangered species are evolving too slowly.

UCLA Newsroom - September 8, 2014UCLA biologists– David Walker, Matthew Ulgherait, and colleagues– have identified a gene that can slow the aging process throughout the entire body when activated remotely in key organ systems.

UCLA Newsroom - July 17, 2014In the July 16 issue of Nature, Psychology professor Michelle Craske and her colleagues urge clinicians and neuroscientists to work together to understand and improve psychological treatments.

UCLA Newsroom - June 12, 2014UCLA psychologist, Vickie Mays, worked with a team of international scholars to analyze epidemiological studies on gun violence and mental illness, and compared these results to media-fueled public perceptions about the dangerousness of mentally ill individuals.

KPCC – NPR - June 4, 2014The gray wolf, hunted to extinction in California nearly 90 years ago, will be listed under the state’s Endangered Species Act. Robert Wayne, professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, says it’s just a matter of time before wolves establish a pack in the Golden State

UCLA Newsroom - May 22, 2014The funds donated by La Kretz will be used to build a garden pavilion that will house a welcome center and classroom, and to establish an endowment to maintain the new pavilion building. The new facility will be named the La Kretz Garden Pavilion. Construction is scheduled to begin in November 2015 and conclude by the end of 2016.

UCLA Newsroom - May 15, 2014An international team of life scientists, including senior author, Alexander Hoffmann, a professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics have shown how B-cells respond only to true threats.

UCLA Newsroom - April 28, 2014Girls who are told by a parent, sibling, friend, classmate or teacher that they are too fat at age 10 are more likely to be obese at age 19, a new study by UCLA psychologists shows.

Health Canal - April 14, 2014Peter Narins, UCLA distinguished professor of integrative biology and physiology and of ecology and evolutionary biology, and Sebastiaan Meenderink, a UCLA physics researcher have linked changes in Puerto Rican climate over the past three decades to small but significant changes to the coqui frog, the territory's national animal.

UCLA Newsroom - April 07, 2014Four young men who have been paralyzed for years achieved groundbreaking progress — moving their legs — as a result of epidural electrical stimulation of the spinal cord– research developed by UCLA life scientists, V. Reggie Edgerton and Yury Gerasimenko.

UCLA Newsroom - April 01, 2014UCLA Psychology professor, Jaana Juvonen, and co-author Sandra Graham, a UCLA professor of education have conducted the most thorough analysis to date of studies on school bullying and found that K-12 schools' efforts to curtail bullying are often disappointing.

Nanowerk - February 28, 2013Fuyu Tamanoi, professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, together with UCLA biochemist, Jeffrey Zink, and other colleagues, have discovered a new nanotechnology method to fight cancer with tissue-penetrating light.

UCLA Newsroom - February 25, 2014Andrew Christensen, professor of Psychology, is the lead author of a new book: "Reconcilable Differences: Rebuild Your Relationship by Rediscovering the Partner You Love — Without Losing Yourself".

UCLA Newsroom - February 18, 2014Kirk Lohmueller, an assistant professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, is one of two outstanding young professors from UCLA to receive 2014 Sloan Research Fellowships.

Medwire News - February 14, 2014A large study led by Carrie Bearden, professor of psychology and psychiatry, has pinpointed brain and behavioural traits that are genetically influenced and associated with bipolar I disorder.

NBC Nightly News - January 31, 2014Glen MacDonald, director of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and professor Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, discusses the historical significance and potential impact of the current drought emergency in California.

UCLA Newsroom - January 29, 2013Lili Yang, assistant professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, is one of four scientists from UCLA who were recently awarded grants by California's stem cell agency.

The Examiner - January 13, 2014UCLA psychologists Emily Barkley-Levenson and Adriana Galván have found that higher levels of pleasure sensation in teens were related to higher levels of brain activity in the brain’s pleasure center in response to rewards.

UCLA Newsroom - December 20, 2013UCLA Life Scientists have found a mechanism by which certain adult stem cells suppress their ability to initiate skin cancer during their dormant phase — an understanding that could be exploited for better cancer-prevention strategies.

UCLA Newsroom - December 02, 2013Researchers from UCLA Department of Psychology and the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior have found that children who experience profound neglect in early life are more prone to show an inappropriate willingness to approach adults, including strangers.

Slate - November 27, 2013A study led by UCLA life scientists suggests that the diversity of facial colors and patterns in Old World apes and monkeys evolved to help the primates identify members of both their own species and other species.

UCLA Newsroom - November 27, 2013An avalanche of chronic stress — driven by concerns ranging from parenting to discrimination —disproportionately affects poor mothers and fathers, according to the first results from a comprehensive multi-state study.

UCLA Newsroom - November 26, 2013Dr. Hanna Mikkola and researchers at UCLA's Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research have identified specific factors that are key to the successful growth of a healthy placenta. The findings could greatly improve the outcome of certain complications that could occur during pregnancy.

Reuters - November 26, 2013Men most often regret not having sex with more people while women frequently regret having sex with the wrong partner, according to a recent study carried out by UCLA and University of Texas researchers.

UCLA Newsroom - November 25, 2013Gordon Fain, distinguished Professor of Integrative Biology and Physiology is one of three UCLA faculty that were selected as fellows this year by the American Association for the Advancement of Science,AAAS.

Associated Press - November 13, 2013Scientists from Conservation International and the Indonesian Biodiversity Research Centre (affiliated with UCLA Life Sciences),have recently discovered a new species of flasher wrasse in the coral reefs of Indonesia.

MSNBC's "The Cycle" - October 23, 2013Philip Atiba Goff, UCLA assistant professor of social psychology, was interviewed Wednesday on MSNBC's "The Cycle" about receiving a National Science Foundation grant to establish a new national database that tracks racial profiling by law-enforcement agencies.

NPR - September 12, 2013H. Bradley Shaffer, professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, discusses the ecological dangers resulting from the interbreeding of endangered California salamanders and imported Texas salamanders, which has created a new type of hybrid "super-salamander."

Nature - September 11, 2013Research led by Robert Wayne, professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, weighs in on the controversy accompanying the federal government's proposal to remove grey wolves from the endangered species list.

UCLA Newsroom - August 30, 2013Jerome Zack and Donald Kohn, professors of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics are among four UCLA scientists who received Early Translational grants totaling $13M from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

UCLA Newsroom - August 29, 2013School districts are making changes - using a framework developed by UCLA psychologists, Howard Adelman and Linda Taylor - that are improving student performance and graduation rates.

Examiner - August 12, 2013 New research led by Dr. Annette Stanton, professor of Psychology and member of UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, shows that women who chronicled their experiences with breast cancer online, tended to experience a reduction in depressive symptoms, an increase in positive mood and enhanced appreciation for life.

Science 2.0 - August 7, 2013UCLA psychologist Patricia Greenfield analyzed words used in more than 1.5 million American and British books published between 1800 and 2000, showing how our cultural values have changed.

National Public Radio - July 19, 2013Daniel Blumstein, professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, talks about his ongoing research on yellow-bellied marmots, which is giving us insight into mammalian personality traits, climate change, and the evolution of fear.

U.S. News & World Report - July 11, 2013UCLA Psychology professor Patricia Greenfield, and her colleagues have found that during the recent recession, concern for other people and the environment rose among American teens.

Christian Science Monitor - June 6, 2013 Michael Alfaro, associate professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and his colleagues have found that the speed at which new species emerge is strongly correlated with the speed at which changes in body size evolve.

Smithsonian Magazine Blog - June 6, 2013Researchers from our Department of Psychology, and their collaborators, have found that there is a similarity in the form and function of the gestures used by chimpanzees, bonobos and human infants.

UCLA Newsroom - May 21, 2013Van Savage, UCLA assistant professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and of Biomathematics, and former UCLA postdoctoral researchers Anthony Dell and Samraat Pawar have shed new light on how climate change will affect interactions between species. This knowledge, they say, is critical to making accurate predictions and informing policymakers of how species are likely to be impacted by rising temperatures.

LA Times Daily Dish - May 20, 2013 Jonathan Gold describes being a pie judge for an apple pie contest that was part of Amy Rowat’s undergraduate science-and-food class at UCLA, a bake-off that was equal parts cooking contest and science fair.

United Academics - May 16, 2013A team led by Thomas Smith, director of the UCLA Center for Tropical Research and a professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, found that data from satellites, when combined with traditional field studies, could help predict the variations in singing by a common songbird. The finding could lead to a better understanding of the evolution and variation of animal species.

UCLA Newsroom - May 15, 2013When the brain's primary "learning center" is damaged, complex new neural circuits arise to compensate for the lost function, say life scientists from UCLA and Australia who have pinpointed the regions of the brain involved in creating those alternate pathways — often far from the damaged site.

International Business Times - May 8, 2013 James Lloyd-Smith, UCLA assistant professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and his colleagues have found that the incidence of flu is rising among pigs in China.

US News and World Report - May 6, 2013David Walker, associate professor of Integrative Biology and Physiology, and Anil Rana, a UCLA postdoctoral scholar, have identified a gene that can extend the healthy life span of fruit flies by more than 25 percent.

UCLA Newsroom - May 06, 2013David Walker, associate professor of Integrative Biology and Physiology, and his colleagues have identified a gene previously implicated in Parkinson's disease that can delay the onset of aging and extend the healthy life span of fruit flies. The research, they say, could have important implications for aging and disease in humans.

Popular Science - April 24, 2013An article about how Peter Nonacs, professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, lets students in his behavioral ecology class "cheat" on their midterm to teach them more about game theory.

UCLA Newsroom - April 24, 2013UCLA Psychology Professor, Robert Bjork, is among the newest class of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation's oldest and most prestigious honorary societies and independent policy research centers.

The Eater - April 18, 2013The Eater blog on Thursday highlighted this year's first UCLA "Science and Food" event, which featured Brazilian chef Alex Atala. Organized by Amy Rowat, UCLA assistant professor of integrative biology and physiology, the events are presented in conjunction with Rowat's academic course "Science and Food: The Physical and Molecular Origins of What We Eat."

UCLA Newsroom - April 11, 2013UCLA scientists have shown that temporarily blocking a protein critical to immune response actually helps the body clear itself of chronic infection. Published in the April 12 edition of the journal Science, the finding suggests new approaches to treating persistent viral infections like HIV and hepatitis C.

UCLA Today - April 10, 2013 Adriana Galván, assistant professor of Psychology, has been selected a William T. Grant Scholar by the William T. Grant Foundation. The award is given to exceptional researchers early in their careers. Galván’s laboratory studies brain development in children, adolescents and adults using behavioral and neuroimaging techniques.

UCLA Newsroom - April 10, 2013Humans could learn a thing or two from turtles, and scientists who have just sequenced the first turtle genome uncovered clues about how people can benefit from the shelled creatures' remarkable longevity and ability to survive for months without breathing.

UCLA Newsroom - April 5, 2013 his spring, Andrew Nicholls, a UCLA senior and eight-year army veteran, shared his firsthand perspectives about the military and combat by teaching a new psychology course through the Psychology department called "Fast Cars and Battle Scars: Understanding the Modern Combat Veteran and PTSD".

Wall Street Journal - April 3, 2013 Social-science research on same-sex families highlighted a study by Jill Waterman, UCLA adjunct professor of psychology; Letitia Anne Peplau, UCLA distinguished research professor of psychology; and Justin Lavner, a UCLA doctoral candidate in psychology, showing that high-risk children adopted from foster care do equally well when they are placed with gay, lesbian or heterosexual parents.

The Scientist - April 1, 2013 Aging is marked by the accumulation of wear and tear on the body’s organs and tissues, but the specific kinds of damage that usher in death are still unknown. David Walker and his colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles, suspected that the intestines may play a key role. In previous studies, when energy metabolism in the intestines was boosted, the flies’ lifespan increased.

Canada’s Guelph Mercury - March 31, 2013A profile on Amy Rowat, UCLA assistant professor of Integrative Biology and Physiology, highlighting her annual "Science and Food" public events, which feature top chefs and are presented in conjunction with her UCLA academic course, "Science and Food: The Physical and Molecular Origins of What We Eat."

UCLA Newsroom - March 13, 2013 Thomas Smith, director of the UCLA Center for Tropical Research and professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Trevon Fuller, a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Tropical Research have developed a technique that allows us to predict sites where human and bird viruses could mix and generate a future pandemic.

UCLA Newsroom - March 7, 2013 Andrew Christensen, professor of Psychology who has worked with hundreds of couples over more than 30 years, worked with his colleague Brian Doss, a UCLA alumnus, to designed a website, www.OurRelationship.com, that allows you and your partner to strengthen your marriage— for free and from the comfort of your own home.

UCLA Newsroom - March 4, 2013UCLA postdoctoral scholar in Psychology, Jennifer Hahn-Holbrook,led new research showing that women with strong social support from their families during pregnancy appear to be protected from sharp increases in a particular stress hormone, making them less likely to experience post-partum depression.

UCLA Newsroom - February 28, 2013UCLA postdoctoral scholar Ruian Ke, and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology professor James Lloyd-Smith, have found that defective viruses help normal, functional viruses by increasing the transmission of the functional virus.

UCLA Newsroom - February 11, 2013 Graduate student Su-Yang Liu and Genhong Cheng, a professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics worked alongside collaborators to identify a protein with broad virus-fighting properties that potentially could be used against deadly human pathogenic viruses such as HIV, Ebola, and Rift Valley Fever.

UCLA Newsroom - February 20, 2013The drug scopolamine has been used to treat a variety of conditions, including nausea and motion sickness. A new study by UCLA life scientists suggests that it may also be useful in treating anxiety disorders.

UCLA Newsroom - February 20, 2013Yi Xing, an associate professor in the department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics and a member of UCLA's Institute for Molecular Medicine is among a select group of young scientists to receive a 2013 Sloan Research Fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

UCLA Newsroom - January 24, 2013Bullying, whether it's physical aggression or spreading rumors, boosts the social status and popularity of middle school students, according to a new UCLA psychology study that has implications for programs aimed at combatting school bullying.

Nature.com - December 3, 2012Shelley E. Taylor, UCLA distinguished professor of Psychology, and her colleagues, including lead author Elizabeth Castle, have found that "older adults seem to be particularly vulnerable to interpersonal solicitations, and their reduced sensitivity to cues related to trust may partially underlie this vulnerability."

UCLA Newsroom - November 29, 2012UCLA Life Scientists, Genhong Cheng and Jeffery F. Miller, are the latest scholars to be named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world's largest general scientific society and the publisher of the journal Science.

Univision - November 14, 2012Victoria Sork, Dean of the UCLA Division of Life Sciences; Alvaro Sagasti, associate professor of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology; and Life Sciences student Angelica Riestra were interviewed by Univision about how UCLA is increasing opportunities and scholarships for excellent underrepresented minority students in the sciences.

Wall Street Journal - October 1, 2012Elissa Hallem, assistant professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics and a member of UCLA's Molecular Biology Institute, has been selected as a 2012 MacArthur Fellow.

UCLA Today - September 26, 2012Xinshu (Grace) Xiao, assistant professor of Integrative Biology and Physiology, is among 15 outstanding scientists nationwide to be awarded a grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) to expand the ENCyclopedia Of DNA Elements (ENCODE), a comprehensive catalog of functional elements that control the expression of genetic information in a cell. She and her research group will identify genetic differences that alter RNA processing. Her research project aims to understand functions of genetic variants, such as mutations, in our genomes.

UCLA Newsroom - September 25, 2012In a new study, Laura Marinelli, a UCLA postdoctoral researcher and Dr. Robert Modlin, professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics and their collaborators found that a specific group of benign viruses that live alongside acne-causing bacteria have the power to stop acne before it starts.

UCLA Newsroom - September 11, 2012Dr. Donald Kohn, professor of Microbiology, Immunology, & Molecular Genetics, and member of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research, and his colleagues have demonstrated that a combination of chemotherapy and gene therapy may help doctors treat children with "bubble boy" disease, in which the body cannot successfully fight off germs.

UCLA Newsroom - September 4, 2012Katharina Kircanski, a former UCLA graduate student and Michelle Craske, UCLA professor of Psychology, showed that by labeling emotions at stressful times people felt less afraid and less anxious.

UCLA Newsroom - July 31, 2012Dr. Hanna Mikkola, Associate Professor of Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology and her team have found that precursor cells in the endothelium that normally generate blood stem cells can become beating cardiomyocytes, or heart muscle cells.

UCLA Newsroom - July 31, 2012Starting August 6, Bob Goldberg, a distinguished professor of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, will teach a remarkable six-week online course titled "Genetic Engineering and Society" – a general education course in the UCLA Division of Life Sciences that is designed for non-science majors.

UCLA Newsroom - July 25, 2012 UCLA professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Lawren Sack, working with colleagues in China, have discovered a new method to quickly assess plants’ drought tolerance. The method works for many diverse species growing around the world. The research, may revolutionize the ability to survey plant species for their ability to withstand drought.

Asian News International - June 27, 2012 Recent research published by Patricia Gowaty, UCLA distinguished professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, debunks a 1948 study of fruit flies that established the notion that males are more promiscuous and females more picky.

Science Daily - June 13, 2012Research by Daniel Blumstein, professor and chair of the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Greg Bryant, UCLA assistant professor of communication studies, has shown that distorted and jarring music tends to excite listeners because it mimics the distress calls of animals.

UPI - June 12, 2012A study by Glen MacDonald, director of UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and a professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) along with Robert Wayne and Blaire Van Valkenburgh, also EEB professors, found that woolly mammoths succumbed to a lethal combination of climate warming, encroaching humans and habitat change between 4,000 and 10,000 years ago.

UCLA Newsroom - May 23, 2012Paul Ichiro Terasaki, a pioneer in organ transplant medicine, will be awarded the UCLA Medal, the university's highest honor, at the UCLA College of Letters and Science commencement ceremony on June 15.

UCLA Newsroom - May 4, 2012On May 4, 2012, Paul Terasaki was presented with the Edward A. Dickson Alumnus of the Year award for his vital contributions to the field of organ transplantation, and for his immensely generous contributions to UCLA, in particular to the Division of Life Sciences.

UCLA Newsroom - April 17, 2012James A. Lake, Distinguished professor of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology and Human Genetics, and Larry Simpson, Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics are among 220 distinguished scholars, scientists, authors, artists, and business and philanthropic leaders elected today to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in recognition of their outstanding accomplishments.

UCLA Newsroom - May 2, 2012UCLA Biochemistry professor Sabeeha Merchant, a valued contributor to UCLA Life Sciences’ plant research program was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of her "distinguished and continuing achievements in original research."

UCLA Newsroom - April 13, 2012Elissa Hallem, assistant professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, was named a 2012 Searle Scholar, for her innovative and interdisciplinary research on host-parasite interactions.

UCLA Newsroom - May 3, 2012Kendra Knudson, a UCLA undergraduate majoring in psychobiology, was awarded the 2012 Charles E. Young Humanitarian Award for developing the Creative Minds Project at Step Up on Second, a nonprofit organization in Santa Monica that serves people with mental illness. The project utilizes creative art therapies to foster change and progress toward recovery, stability and reintegration into society.

UCLA Newsroom - May 30, 2012Van Savage, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Assistant Professor, Samraat Pawar, a post-doctoral scholar in Savage’s group, and their collaborators have demonstrated for the first time that the relationship between animals' body size and their feeding rate — the overall amount of food they consume per unit of time — is largely determined by the properties of the space in which they search for their food.

Forbes - May 16, 2012Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine, and a professor of Integrative Biology and Physiology, was co-author of a recent study showing that a steady high-fructose diet can slow the brain and hamper memory and learning in rats — and how omega-3 fatty acids can minimize the damage.

UCLA Newsroom - May 22, 2012Lawren Sack, professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, along with graduate student Christine Scoffoni, three UCLA undergraduate researchers, and colleagues have discovered new laws that determine the construction of leaf vein systems as leaves grow and evolve. The research, has a range of fundamental implications for global ecology and allows researchers to estimate original leaf sizes from just a fragment of a leaf. W improve scientists' prediction and interpretation of climate in the deep past from leaf fossils.

Medical News Today - May 29 2012Ecology and Evolutionary Biology professor John Novembre teamed with researchers from UCLA’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and Tel Aviv University to develop a new genetic method that can pinpoint an individual's geographic origin, just by sampling your genome.

UCLA Newsroom - May 18, 2012John Novembre, assistant professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
recently led a large study of human genetic variation, published today in the online version of the journal Science. The study shows that rare genetic variants are not so rare after all and offers insights into human diseases.

Science - April 27, 2012Matthew Lieberman, UCLA professor of Psychology and of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral sciences, led a study in which researchers imaged the brains of smokers while they were asked to rate the effectiveness of several anti-smoking ads, with surprising results.

UCLA Newsroom - April 5, 2012Graduate students Megan Bartlett and Christine Scoffoni, along with Lawren Sack, professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, recently published new findings that could lead to predictions of which plant species will escape extinction from climate change.

Examiner - March 11, 2012Ji Won Shim, a UCLA postdoctoral fellow working with Utpal Banerjee, UCLA Professor and Chairman of the Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology department, recently published a study in Nature Cell Biology showing that insulin and nutrition keep blood stem cells from differentiating into mature blood cells. This finding could benefit diabetics, through its implications for studying inflammatory response and blood development in response to dietary changes in humans.

UCLA Newsroom - March 6, 2012Stephanie White, a UCLA associate professor of Integrative Biology and Physiology is senior author of a new study that found 2,000 genes expressed in a region of the male zebra finch's brain, that are significantly linked to singing. At least some of these genes are shared by humans, and are likely important for human speech.

UCLA Newsroom - March 1, 2012Dr. Hanna Mikkola, UCLA associate professor of Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology, recently led a study that found a specific cell signaling pathway in the placenta that plays a key role in stopping blood stem cells from differentiating into mature blood cells in the placenta. This is critical to ensure proper blood supply for an individual's lifetime.

UCLA Newsroom - February 16, 2012John Novembre, an assistant professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology is among 126 scientists and scholars to receive a 2012 Sloan Research Fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

UCLA Today - January 11, 2012Postdoctoral researcher Yanling Wang has been named a Damon Runyon Fellow by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on supporting exceptional early career researchers and innovative cancer research.

UCLA Newsroom - January 9, 2012Michael Alfaro, associate professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and his colleagues shed light on why faces of primates look so dramatically different from one another.

The Examiner - December 22, 2011Utpal Banerjee, the Irving and Jean Stone Professor and chairman of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology co-authored a study showing that two-way signaling from two different sets of cells is necessary for bloody-supply balance, both to ensure that enough blood cells are produced to respond to injury and infection and that blood progenitor cells remain available for future needs.

UCLA Newsroom - December 8, 2011Ladan Shams, associate professor of Cognitive Psychology recently led research that found that our senses of sight and hearing work closely together, perhaps more so than we might have thought.

UCLA Newsroom - December 7, 2011Robert Modlin, professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, has been named a fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science for "distinguished contributions toward understanding human antimicrobial pathways, including Th1/Th2 cytokines, TLR 2 recognition of microbial lipoproteins, and the role of vitamin D in immunity."

Examiner.com - December 7, 2011William Lowry, an assistant professor of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, and associate researcher Saran Karumbayaram, have taken human skin cells, reprogrammed them into cells with the same unlimited property as embryonic stem cells, and then differentiated them into neurons while completely avoiding the use of animal-based reagents and feeder conditions throughout the process.

UCLA Newsroom - December 02, 2011 Robert Wayne, professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, is co-author of a recent study that produced the most comprehensive mathematical model ever devised to track the health of populations exposed to environmental change. The team's groundbreaking integral projection model allows researchers to link many different data sources simultaneously.

Scientist - December 2, 2011Amander Clark, assistant professor of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, and colleagues recently found that established human embryonic stem cell lines, including those approved for federal research funding, differ from newly derived human embryonic stem cell lines. This finding highlights the importance of continuing to derive new stem cell lines so that researchers can better understand the ability of these cells to make every cell in the human body.

AAAS - December 07, 2011Robert Modlin, Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, has been selected as a fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world's largest general scientific society and the publisher of the journal Science.

UCLA Newsroom - December 02, 2011Robert Wayne, professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, recently led research that produced the most comprehensive mathematical model ever devised to track the health of populations exposed to environmental change. The team's groundbreaking integral projection model allows researchers to link many different data sources simultaneously. Scientists can now change just a single variable, like temperature, and see how that affects many factors for a population.

UCLA Newsroom - December 02, 2011Amander Clark, UCLA assistant professor of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, and colleagues recently found that established human embryonic stem cell lines, including those approved for federal research funding, differ from newly derived human embryonic stem cell lines. This finding highlights the importance of continuing to derive new stem cell lines so that researchers can better understand the ability of these cells to make every cell in the human body.

United Press International - Nov 29, 2011Jerome Zack, professor of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, and his colleagues, have recently engineered blood stem cells to create immune cells that seek out and attack a type of human melanoma.

UCLA Newsroom - November 8, 2011David Walker, assistant professor of Integrative Biology and Physiology, recently led a study showing that when the expression of a single gene, PGC-1, was boosted within the digestive tracts of fruit flies, the flies lived as much as fifty percent longer. PGC-1 activates the cells' mitochondria and regulates mitochondrial activity in mammals and flies.

R&D Magazine - October 17, 2011The 2011 Brick in Architecture Awards, sponsored by the Brick Industry Assn., have recognized the Terasaki Life Sciences Building at the University of California-Los Angeles as Best in Class in the Educational category. The architect was Bohlin Cywinski Jackson; Stenfors Associates Architects was the associate.

US News & World Report - October 10, 2011An international team of scientists, including Dr. Robert Modlin, UCLA professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, has found that vitamin D also plays an essential role in the body’s immune response against infections such as tuberculosis.

Popular Mechanics - October 3, 2011V. Reggie Edgerton, UCLA distinguished professor of Integrative Biology and Physiology and Yury Gerasimenko, a UCLA researcher in Integrative Biology and Physiology and director of the laboratory of movement physiology at Russia's St. Petersburg's Pavlov Institute are among the four recipients of the 2011 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award for a new procedure that uses direct electrical stimulation to give spinal injury patients back some voluntary movement.

UCLA Newsroom - September 22, 2011Thomas B. Smith, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and colleagues, recently discovered the first evidence of the H1N1 virus in animals in Africa. In one village in northern Cameroon, a staggering 89 percent of the pigs studied had been exposed to the H1N1 virus, commonly known as the swine flu.

UCLA Today - September 21, 2011Utpal Banerjee, the Irving and Jean Stone Professor and chairman of the Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology Department received the National Institutes of Heath’s Pioneer Award, which recognizes leading-edge, innovative research.

UCLA Newsroom - September 13, 2011Shelley E. Taylor, distinguished professor in the department of Psychology, is senior author of new research that has identified for the first time, a particular gene's link to optimism, self-esteem, and "mastery," the belief that one has control over one's own life— three critical psychological resources for coping well with stress and depression.

ScienceDaily - August 18, 2011UCLA research studying the nature of human pluripotent stem cells featured William Lowry, assistant professor of molecular, cell and development biology and a researcher with the Broad Stem Cell Research Center, led the study. The findings could have implications both clinically, in terms of transplantation, and for disease modeling.

New York Times Op-Ed - August 10, 2011 Vickie Mays, UCLA professor of psychology, professor of health services in the School of Public Health, and director of the UCLA Center for Research, Education, Training and Strategic Communication on Minority Health Disparities, addressed how sex education and intervention programs can potentially lower the incidence of HIV among young gay African-American men.

UCLA Newsroom - Aug. 3, 2011Richard Zimmer, a UCLA distinguished professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, and his team, recently published new research on sperm and egg interactions in red abalone, an ocean-dwelling snail. Implications of this research could improve the treatment of human infertility.

LA Times - August 1, 2011A column in today's Los Angeles Times about the dangers kids face at school cites a study led by UCLA psychology professor Jaana Juvonen that found that nearly three in four teenagers had been bullied online during a 12-month period.

Daily Bruin - August 1, 2011 Jerome Zack, director of the UCLA Center for Aids Research and UCLA professor in the department microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics, and his research team were recently awarded an NIH grant to develop medication that, in a limited number of treatments, could completely rid infected individuals of HIV.

UCLA Today - July 25, 2011UCLA Today profiles Jeffrey H. Miller, Professor of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, cutting-edge scientist and educator, who has been working on what has become a major public health crisis in the United States– the steep rise in drug-resistant infections.

UCLA Newsroom - July 22, 2011John Novembre, UCLA assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and a member of UCLA's Interdepartmental Program in Bioinformatics, is senior author of a recent paper that published one of the first genetic maps pinpointing where DNA is likely to be reshuffled in the genomes of African Americans — a tool that could help scientists find genes that cause disease.

Examiner.com - July 21, 2011Research led by Steven E. Jacobsen, a professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology and a researcher at UCLA's Broad Stem Cell Research Center has led to the first genome-wide mapping of the so-called "sixth nucleotide" in human embryonic stem cells and discovered that the molecule is found predominantly in genes that are turned on, or active.

UPI - July 19, 2011Research by Gene Block, UCLA chancellor and professor of psychiatry, biobehavioral sciences and physiology, and Christopher Colwell, UCLA professor-in-residence of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences, shows that mice, that the pattern of activity in the brain region that regulates circadian rhythms begins to decay when the animals hit middle age. This research could provide clues as to why sleep patterns change as people grow older.

LA Times - July 10, 2011Goldberg, UCLA distinguished professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology, was BRIEFLY quoted Sunday in a Los Angeles Times article about the labeling of genetically modified foods.

Time - July 11, 2011Patricia M. Greenfield, a UCLA distinguished professor of psychology and collaborators found that “Fame” is the No. 1 value emphasized by television shows popular with 9- to 11-year-olds, a dramatic change over the past 10 years.

UCLA Newsroom - July 5, 2011Using state-of-the-art imaging equipment at the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) at UCLA, Robert Gunsalus, professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics, has shown for the first time that a microbe known as Methanosprillum hungatei, contains incredibly efficient energy-storage structures.

USA Today - July 12, 2011Using three-dimensional computer models, Lawren Sack, UCLA professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and collaborators, including Ph.D. candidate and lead author, Christine Scoffoni, simulated the impacts of embolisms on water transport for leaves of different sizes and vein architectures. They found that the distinct vein systems of smaller leaves are structurally and physiologically better adapted for plants to live in dry soil, contributing to survival during periods of drought.

UCLA Newsroom - July 22, 2011John Novembre, UCLA assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and a member of UCLA's Interdepartmental Program in Bioinformatics, is senior author of a recent paper that published one of the first genetic maps pinpointing where DNA is likely to be reshuffled in the genomes of African Americans — a tool that could help scientists find genes that cause disease.

UCLA Newsroom - July 21, 2011Research by Steve Jacobsen, professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, that generated the first genome-wide mapping of a DNA modification called 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) in embryonic stem cells.

UCLA Newsroom - July 5, 2011Lawren Sack, UCLA professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and collaborators, including Ph.D. candidate and lead author Christine Scoffoni, used three-dimensional computer models to simulate water transport within the veins of different sized leaves. They found that the distinct vein systems of smaller leaves are structurally and physiologically better adapted for plants to live in dry soil, contributing to survival during periods of drought.

UCLA Today - June 8, 2011James A. Lake, UCLA Distinguished Professor of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology and Human Genetics, was awarded the Darwin Wallace Medal for major research advances in evolutionary biology. He received the award on May 24 at the anniversary meeting of the Linnean Society of London.

Wired - June 29, 2011Naomi Eisenberger, UCLA assistant professor of psychology, and her team recently published a brain-imaging study showing that young women who were administered a moderate pain stimulus experienced a reduction in pain when they viewed a photograph of their boyfriend.

UCLA Stem Cell News - June 14, 2011Life Sciences professors, were two of three UCLA researchers awarded state stem cell grants totaling $3.9 million. These grants will fund investigations into the basic mechanisms underlying stem cell biology, cellular differentiation and cellular plasticity, the ability of adult stem cells to become cells other than their cell of origin.

UCLA Today - June 20, 2011Elissa Hallem, assistant professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics and a member of UCLA's Molecular Biology Institute, has been honored as a 2011 Rita Allen Foundation Scholar. The award is granted to seven researchers in biomedical science who will receive a total of $3.5 million in grants as 2011 Rita Allen Foundation Scholars.

New York Times - June 13, 2011A column in Monday's New York Times about opossums cited research by Ines Horovitz, UCLA assistant adjunct professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, suggesting that the earliest marsupials most likely resembled opossums. Horovitz was quoted.

June 9, 2011 - LA ExaminerUCLA announced that they have partnered with Roche to give UCLA stem cell and cancer scientists early access to leading-edge technologies in an effort to advance medical research. The agreement the researchers with leading-edge technologies, which will drive research capabilities and further the understanding of complex disease. The technologies, including the latest generation microarray systems from Roche NimbleGen, high-throughput screening instruments, genetic expression profilers and exome sequencing technologies will provide scientists with the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA and UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center with valuable technology directly from Roche’s research and development pipeline.

New York Times - June 6, 2011An article in today’s New York Times about perceptual learning, which relies largely on gut-instinct, cites studies by UCLA researchers and colleagues in which school students were asked to solve mathematical problems that often required more intuition than mathematical knowledge. Philip J. Kellman, UCLA professor of cognitive psychology, is quoted.

UCLA Newsroom - June 02, 2011Julia Barske, a UCLA graduate student and doctoral candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology, has recently published data that shows that the females select the males that completed elements of the courtship dance in 50 milliseconds over the males that took 80 milliseconds. Barney Schlinger, professor and departmental chair of integrative biology and physiology and a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology is co-author of the study.

June 20, 2011 - MSN BlogAn MSN blog on Monday highlighted a study by UCLA researchers and colleagues suggesting that for women, dating a less attractive man may result in a happier, more emotionally satisfying relationship. Benjamin Karney, UCLA associate professor of psychology, was quoted.

India Express - June 22, 2011Adriana Galvan, assistant professor of developmental psychology, has recently found that the brains of teens and adults react differently under stress and when dealing with risky situations. Galvan is quoted.

Boston Globe - May 31, 2011The Boston Globe reported on genetic research by Robert Wayne, UCLA professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, and colleagues indicating that wolves in the eastern U.S. are hybrids of gray wolves and coyotes and that eastern coyotes are wolf-coyote-dog hybrids.

Eurekalert - May 24, 2011Alvaro Sagasti, UCLA Professor of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, and UCLA postdoctoral scholar Sandra Rieger found that hydrogen peroxide, which is found in high concentrations in wounds, promotes the regeneration of sensory fibers in healing skin.

UCLA Newsroom - May 09, 2011UCLA professor of psychology R. Edward Geiselman and three former UCLA undergraduates have analyzed some 60 studies on detecting deception and conducted original research on the subject. They present their findings and their guidance for how to conduct effective training programs for detecting deception to help law enforcement agencies tell truth from lies.

UCLA Health & Medicine News - May 05, 2011Six scientists with the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA were awarded more than $8 million in grants from California's state stem cell agency on May 3 to investigate basic mechanisms underlying stem cell biology and differentiation. Shuo Lin ($1,382,400) Professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology in the UCLA Division of Life Sciences; and William Lowry ($1,354,230)Assistant professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology in the UCLA Division of Life Sciences

May 16, 2011 - UCLA NewsroomThis week, conservationist Charles Saylan and UCLA Professor and Chair of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Daniel T. Blumstein published their latest book, "The Failure of Environmental Education (And How We Can Fix It)." Sayan and Blumstein argue that schools must revamp how they teach about the environment to prevent ecological collapse.

May 18, 2011 - New York Times MagazineRobert Bjork distinguished professor of psychology and co-principal investigator at the Bjork Learning and Forgetting Lab at UCLA, was quoted Wednesday in a New York Times Magazine column about the effects of computers and Internet technology on human memory.

Science Magazine - 5/19/11V. Reggie Edgerton, UCLA Professor of Integrative Biology and Physiology, and Susan Harkema of the University of Louisville in Kentucky, describe a new electrode experiment that helped a paralyzed man take steps on a treadmill, and regain other key functions. These studies may provide good hope for the quarter of a million Americans who are currently living with spinal cord injuries.

UCLA Newsroom - 5/18/11Stephen Hubbell, UCLA distinguished professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, is co-author on a new study published May 19 in the journal Nature. The study found that methods most widely used for calculating species extinction rates are "fundamentally flawed" and overestimate extinction rates by as much as 160 percent.

UCLA Newsroom - 5/3/11Steven E. Jacobsen, UCLA professor in the Department of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator was elected be a member of The National Academy of Sciences. Election to the Academy is considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded a scientist or engineer.

UCLA Newsroom - 4/27/11Could veterans of war, rape victims and other people who have seen horrific crimes someday have the traumatic memories that haunt them weakened in their brains? In a new study, David Glanzman, UCLA professor of Integrative Biology and Physiology, and his colleagues report a discovery that may make the reduction of such memories a reality.

UCLA Newsroom - 4/20/11A UCLA research team led by Leonard H. Rome and including Daniel B. Toso and Z. Hong Zhou from the UCLA Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, have developed a new and potentially far more effective means of targeted drug delivery using nanotechnology.

The Examiner - 4/20/11This recent study on squamous cell cancers by Andrew White, postdoctoral fellow, and William Lowry, assistant professor, in the Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, could result in new strategies to treat and potentially prevent the disease.

New York Times - 4/18/11Robert Bjork, distinguished professor of psychology and co-principal investigator at the Bjork Learning and Forgetting Lab at UCLA, was quoted on Monday in a New York Times article on new research about how we learn and remember.

3/24/11 - Discovery NewsA study co-authored by James Lloyd-Smith, UCLA assistant professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and U.C. San Diego biochemist Leor Weinberger found that, over 30 years, therapeutic interfering particles (TIPS) could reduce the number of people in Sub-Saharan Africa infected with HIV to one-thirtieth of the current level.

3/24/11 - ABC News onlineKerri Johnson, UCLA assistant professor of communication studies and psychology, was quoted in an ABC News online article about a dating website that matches couples based on their facial similarities.

3/24/11 - Science DailyLadan Shams, UCLA assistant professor of Psychology, recently published a study of how brain corrects perceptual errors. These findings may lead to better hearing aids and robotic technology.

3/19/11 - Time Magazine OnlineThis Time magazine article about kids and social media referenced a 2006 study at UCLA by Barbara Knowlton, UCLA professor of psychology, and her colleague, Russell Poldrack, now at the University of Texas at Austin.

3/14/11 - Chemical and Engineering NewsFuyu Tamanoi, UCLA professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics and director of the signal transduction and therapeutics program at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, was quoted Monday in a Chemical and Engineering News article about the use of diamond-like nanostructures in chemotherapy drug delivery.

3/8/11 - Daily NewsBenjamin Karney, UCLA associate professor of psychology, is quoted today in this article about research showing that married women in the military are more than twice as likely as their male counterparts to get divorced.

3/6/11 - United Press InternationalUnited Press International reported Sunday on a study led by Kerri Johnson, UCLA assistant professor of communication studies and psychology, that found that body language is more likely to be judged as masculine when it seems to convey anger and as feminine when is seems to convey sadness.